Hartford Schools Superintendent's Contract Extended By One Year

Hartford Supt. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, center, visited neighborhoods in August on a back-to-school campaign. Here Keron Barnes, 8, an incoming 4th grader at Parkville Community School got a chance to shake hands with his new principal, Omaris Journet. (Courant File Photo)

The Hartford Board of Education recently voted to extend Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriguez’s contract by an additional year, so that it would run through June 2021.

Craig Stallings, chairman of the city’s board of education, said the decision was made at the board’s Oct. 16 meeting in response to a request for an extension made by Torres-Rodriguez in March.

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Torres-Rodriguez started as superintendent in July 2017 with a three-year contract and a base pay of $260,000.

“As you know urban districts are suffering from instability especially in the leadership roles,” said Stallings. “We can provide some stability. … The students of the city of Hartford are in good hands and they do benefit from the contract extension.”

Stallings noted that this will give Torres-Rodriguez time to implement her school consolidation and improvement plan — called the District Model for Excellence. “We need to have some level of fidelity to it,” Stallings said.

Mayor Luke Bronin said in a statement: “It’s critical to have continuity of leadership and vision as the Hartford Public Schools team does the hard and vital work of strengthening neighborhood schools throughout our city, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Superintendent Torres-Rodrigues and the Board.”

If Torres-Rodriguez stays through that fourth year, she will be the second longest-serving Hartford superintendent in 25 years.

Steven J. Adamowski took over in the fall of 2006 and retired in mid-2011, bringing dramatic reforms to the district.

His successor, Christina Kishimoto, clashed with the city school board and was out in 2014 after her three-year contract expired.

Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez stunned her colleagues when she announced her resignation with no warning in September 2016 only nine days after school started and with two years left on her contract.

Schiavino-Narvaez started leading the district in July 2014 and departed a little more than two years later in December 2016 for a job in Okinawa, Japan.

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Stallings said the decision to extend Torres-Rodriguez’s contract was made after an evaluation of her work.

“We decided, upon that annual review, that we felt justified in offering a year contract extension,” he said.